Cleaning compositions should provide good soil and/or grease cleaning while presenting a good suds profile in particular a long lasting suds profile especially in the presence of greasy soils. Users usually see suds as an indicator of the performance of the cleaning composition. Moreover, the user of a cleaning composition may also use the suds profile and the appearance of the suds (e.g., density, whiteness) as an indicator that the wash solution still contains active cleaning ingredients. This is particularly the case for manual washing, also referred to herein as hand-washing, where the user usually doses the cleaning composition depending on the suds remaining and renews the wash solution when the suds subsides or when the suds does not look thick enough. Thus, a cleaning composition, particularly a manual wash cleaning composition that generates little or low density suds would tend to be replaced by the user more frequently than is necessary. Accordingly, it is desirable for a cleaning composition to provide “good sudsing profile”, which includes good suds height and/or density as well as good suds duration during the initial mixing of the composition with water and/or during the entire washing operation.
Several families of natural surface active proteins are able to aid suds performance in aqueous solutions (see Cooper, A., et al. (2017), Colloids Surf, A: Physiochemical and Engineering Aspects; Schor, M., et al. (2016), Trends Biochem. Sci. 41(7): 610-620). In particular, Class I or Class II BslA (Biofilm surface layer A) proteins have been used as a stabilizer in synthetic multiphase products that include sudsing agents to prevent phase separation and improve the sudsing performance of the products in liquid during use (see US2017/267730 (University of Edinburgh)). However, the amount of sudsing generated by such class I or class II BslA proteins in cleaning formulations is limited. This challenge cannot be solved by simply increasing the Class I or Class II BslA concentration level in the composition. That is because while the Class I or Class II BslA proteins may perform well in isolation, their performance may degrade (noticeably) in the presence of surfactants that are typically present in cleaning compositions.
Accordingly, the need remains for an improved cleaning composition comprising BslA proteins which has a further improved sudsing profile, particularly at low BslA proteins concentrations in the cleaning compositions. The need also exists for an improved cleaning composition, when used in a manual-washing process, the composition should also provide a pleasant washing experience, i.e., good feel on the user's hands during the wash. The composition should also be easy to rinse. Further it is desirous that the improved cleaning composition is stable and will not phase separate, resulting in greater shelf-life of the product. It is also desirable that cleaning compositions provide surface modification, contributing to shine in the case of dishware, improved second time cleaning. There is also the desire to reduce the amount of surfactants without negatively impacting sudsing nor grease cleaning and emulsification profile. Thus, there is the need to find new compositions that improve cleaning, suds longevity and improved after cleaning benefits in hand washing conditions. The Applicant discovered that some or all of the above-mentioned needs can be at least partially fulfilled through the improved cleaning composition as described herein below.